eBook - ePub
trace
About this book
"I support you when you need, so that you support me when I need."
An elegant and sweeping story of a Chinese family's history, trace follows the footsteps of four generations as their homes and identities are challenged. Jeff Ho brings life to his great grandmother, grandmother, and mother through considerate storytelling as they recount their pasts, leading to a paralleled present.
Great Grandmother fled the Japanese during World War II by escaping China into Hong Kong, a traumatic event that's rippled down the family line. Grandmother married into the family after a childhood of poverty that will always stay with her. Mother decided to leave Hong Kong for Canada with her two sons, pursuing more opportunities, though dissatisfied with her son's desire to focus on the piano rather than math. Though pain is a constant, there are plenty of wisecracks, games of mah jong, and familiar family anecdotes swirling through Ho's genealogical journey of survival.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access trace by Jeff Ho in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Canadian Drama. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
prelude: moderato
The young man enters. He sits down by one of the pianos and begins playing a warped version of the “Nameless Song for a Nameless Son.” This is Great Grandma’s nightmare. She remains asleep throughout this passage:
Great Grandma
(in a panic) Lou seuw ah!!
[Rats!!]
Lou seuw ah!!
Qui dai fan lai jaw ah,
[They’ve returned,]
The rats are back,
They took away my —
Beat.
Woon Bik, do you hear me?
Rats.
The rats have come back!
Come help me find them.
They’re hiding.
Hurry up!
Time is running out.
Bring him back to me,
Bring him back!
Ew gaw lai sick aw gaw tzai,
[If you eat my son,]
If you hurt him,
I will find you,
I will cook you,
I will throw you out the window,
I will feed you to the birds.
Bring him back to me,
Aw wai tzaw lai gai lai chut lai. [Or I’ll claw your tongue out.]
Ma is opening the steel doors of the apartment, and this wakes Great Grandma.
Who’s there?
Is it you, son?
Come help Ma catch the rats!
Beat.
Wait.
You’re not my son.
Did you bring the rats here?!
Why you standing there?!
(whispers) . . . who are you?
Ma
Grandma!
It’s me.
Don’t you recognize me?
What’s wrong?
Calm down!
It’s me, your granddaughter,
Miu Chi!
Great Grandma
. . . Miu Chi?
Beat.
Miu Chi.
Oh, Miu Chi, you’re home!
You’re home!
Beat.
Why you in Hong Kong?
I thought you in Toronto?!
Beat.
Never mind, not now,
Good you come back.
You have to talk to your useless ma.
She bring home rats.
I know it.
They are everywhere.
Help me kill them.
Help me find them.
Please.
Beat.
Ma
What do you mean there are rats?
Where is Ma? I need to talk to her.
Great Grandma
Diu,
I don’t know where she is.
Ma
Is she with Pa at the hospital —
Great Grandma
I said I don’t know where she is,
and
I don’t care.
All I know is there are rats all over the apartment.
I hear them chewing —
Eat, eat, eat,
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
They take my money,
They take my food,
They take, take, take.
An...
Table of contents
- notes
- characters
- trace
- acknowledgements
- about the author